The Awami League (AL) is going to announce its election manifesto for the 11th parliamentary elections tomorrow (Tuesday) with a comprehensive development plan in a bid to make Bangladesh a developed country on the world stage. AL president and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will present the party’s manifesto to the nation on Tuesday through a press conference at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the city around 10am, the AL’s deputy office secretary, Biplob Barua, told this correspondent yesterday (Sunday).

Party insiders said the highly ambitious manifesto would be prepared while targeting the young generation. In its manifesto, the ruling party would promise to create more job opportunities in the next five years for the young generation in a bid to drum up support for the AL from among them. They said the manifesto will feature two plans for youth development—one for urban residents and another for those living in rural areas.

The slogan of the party’s last 2008 election manifesto was ‘Charter for Change’, which attracted the country’s people. This time, too, the party has planned to announce an attractive manifesto that will gain the people’s trust, insiders said.

The slogan for the AL’s manifesto for the upcoming 11th general elections has been set as ‘Bangladesh is heading towards prosperity or Bangladesh is in a new era’, which is consistent with AL's previous slogan, ‘Bangladesh is moving forward’.

HT Imam, political adviser to the PM, said this time it will be a forward-looking charter so as to keep up the current pace of development. The Prospective Plan (2021–2041) will be in special focus while the Delta Plan 2021 will also get special attention, he added. “In the 2008 manifesto, we announced a long-term plan. This time, too, we will unveil a similar plan. Since the fate of the country

depends on the youth, our manifesto will be based on them,” said Imam. He added that the AL would like to see a future Bangladesh that is modern, scientific and prosperous, like Malaysia and Singapore.

Seeking anonymity, a central leader of the AL said the election manifesto will feature the Sheikh Hasina government’s achievements in the past decade. It will also highlight development plans for the next five years and feature the poor governance of the BNP-Jamaat government from 2001 to 2006, he added.

The manifesto will feature achievements earned by the AL in each sector, and details about the party’s future development plans. It will also showcase the international accolades and recognition that Sheikh Hasina earned during her tenure as PM.

Abdur Razzaque, convener of the sub-committee on the election manifesto, told this correspondent that the manifesto will deal with some 30 topics, including foreign policy, women and children affairs, gender equality, power and energy, growth rate, business, sports and climate change.

Razzaque, also a member of the AL presidium, said it will attach priority to development programmes and also plans to transform villages into townships. The party will also promise in its election manifesto to give more facilities to the members of different law enforcement agencies, he added.

“This time we will include those things in our election manifesto that we will do within 2041. As you know, our goal is to turn the country into a developed one by 2041,” he said.

“In our election manifesto, we will outline our duties to achieve a GDP growth rate of 10 per cent. Besides, this time we will emphasise modern education, decentralisation of the administration and the services sector,” he said.

The AL, which has been ruling the country continuously since 2009, would also make a promise to carry out the “unfinished development works” in the next five years if it can stay in power further.

According to some party leaders, the AL election manifesto will be prepared in line with the party’s declaration paper, where the party had promised to turn Bangladesh into Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s ‘Sonar Bangla’ within 2041 by implementing 10 mega projects one after another.

According to the declaration paper of the AL’s 20th national council session, under the leadership of party president Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh will be turned into a middle income state by 2021 and a developed one by 2041, where the common citizens of the country can live in prosperity and have equitable access to quality education, healthcare, the rule of law and employment opportunities.

The oldest political party in the country will also vow to implement unfinished tasks of the 10 mega projects, including the Padma bridge, Metro rail, second Jamuna bridge, second Padma bridge and Sonadia deep sea port by 2041.

Speaking to this correspondent, AL office secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap said the party’s election manifesto for the upcoming polls will be announced to attract the country’s young generation.

“There will be no room of terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh. Our party will remain vigilant to keep our motherland free from militancy and extremism, which will be one of the major promises of our election manifesto,” he added.